


Of Machiavellian Progenitors

by aModicumofGrace



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Implied Non-Con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-28
Updated: 2012-10-28
Packaged: 2017-11-17 06:13:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/548477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aModicumofGrace/pseuds/aModicumofGrace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which a rather bored scientist decides rules and boundaries are mere guidelines to be disregarded in order to further science. <br/>AU in which Roxy plays the part of a geneticist and Meenah as her finest creation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Machiavellian Progenitors

**Author's Note:**

> Made for Round 2 of the 2012 HSO. The theme was monsters, and I just kind of went with it. I realize, several months later, it's horribly cliche, but I still rather enjoy it.

When one asked what line of work Roxy was in, she'd immediately laugh and say she was an expert in playing god. Most people would awkwardly chuckle at the joke, and class her as some sort of modern Frankenstein, but she preferred geneticist. Despite her relatively young age, being freshly out of university, the girl was one of the leading researchers in her field. Initially starting in cloning, in an attempt to bring back her one of her childhood cats, Frigglish, she came to realize how easy it was to just tweak one minor thing and come up with something entirely new and fantastic. Honestly it was no different then mixing drinks. It took precision and the right about of each base to make the perfect drink. Too little of something and it's not worth drinking, too much and you'll be left with a hangover so bad you'll be wishing you were dead. Although many of her colleagues would disagree with her attitude towards her job, they had to admit that she had a certain knack for it, creating new lifeforms as easily as, well in her case, mixing drinks.

However, despite all of her ground-breaking research and published articles in various scholarly journals, she was beginning to tire of her work. Of course she loved her creations, especially her little four-eyed Vodka Mutini, but she wanted to do something much more grandiose. She wanted to be one of those scientist who was a household name, where all you had to do was mention “Roxy Lalonde” and everyone knew who you were talking about immediately. She wanted to be much like one of those so called “rockstar scientists” who had fans, and people would paste posters of on their walls. Well, posters might be taking it a little far, the idea of someone idealizing her so much that they'd want to plaster their wall with her image was a bit unsettling. However, the lust for fame remained and she would be undeterred in her quest to obtain it.

Weeks slowly turned into months as Roxy worked on the necessary prerequisites to aquire her goal. Of course genetic engineering could be controversial research, but finally she managed to find a lab where she received approval for her idea, and a company to finance it. She had decided that the best way of her becoming a household name was to create something usable in the home. She was planning to build a better pet, something that no average cat, dog, ferret or anything else could compare to. She'd create an entire line of perfect pets, tentatively called “Lalonimals”, who would come in several unnatural colours, as well as natural ones, ones who would appear to be rather neotenic throughout their lives, several different default personality types, easily trainable and extremely strong. However, these weren't the traits she worked hard to obtain. It was their ability to form clear, coherent thoughts and capable of human speech that was so difficult to gain clearance for. The FOXP2 gene was integral to her research, and the human variation of it is what she needed to work on which obviously caused alarm in multiple investors and labs. Although she had found a lab and investors who had approved, they had preferred that she used a songbird variation of the gene, and not a human one. Reluctantly she agreed she would try to use the non-human gene, although if it was unsuccessful, she would use the human one. 

The problem now wasn't resources, however, it was finding the right blend. Her first eleven creations had all been categorized as failures to her. They were adorable, able to change colour, loyal and able to speak, however it was all mere imitation. Something like a parrot, they would repeat what they heard and then store it, using it in the future for whenever they deemed appropriate. Although the first experiment was fairly proficient at using language, it was merely listening to tones and sounds in a situation and using whatever words it had heard in similar situations before. It wasn't true speech, and, even though her investors were thrilled, amazed by her research and wondered how long it would take until they could put them on the market, she found them to be failures. She was on her second martini when she finally decided she was fed up with doing it the investors' way. She was tired of so many failures, and she wanted her next project to be perfect, and there was no other way to do it without using human genes. Twelfth time's the charm, they say, as she began to figure out what she wanted to splice together to create the perfect pet.

It was months before she was satisfied, working on side projects as well to keep her investors happy. While they wowed over cats who could recite the entirety of “Jabberwocky” and fish who were able to survive on land while reading simple lines of script, she worked diligently on experiment twelve. Although she realized her songbirds, as she called the non-human experiments, were becoming vastly more intelligent, currently about equivalent with an 7 year old child, she was still determined to make twelve perfect. It was early March when it was finally “born,” a small, grey creature that seemed to be some sort of cross between a fish, crustacean and human. Upon it's hatching, Roxy immediately realized it had gone wrong. It was far to human to be accepted for the project, she realized in horror, watching it wildly look around the room, hissing at nearly everything in sight. However, this experiment felt different then the others, it just seemed more “right.” Picking it up out of it's tank, thousands of razor sharp fangs clenched down on her arm, slicing through her lab coat and clothing and into her skin. Wincing, she resisted the urge to throw the child, placing it back into it's tank. Looking down at her arm, the blood ran freely, emanating from the nearly perfect circle where the creature bit her. Back in the tank, the creature seemed to be rather amused with itself, in the now rather murky tank due to addition of her blood. She was going to have to clean that, but not until she fixed her wound. “You're a lot meaner then the others.” Roxy simply stated, as she walked over to where the first aid kit was kept. 

Months passed and the creature grew, thanks to the generally growth acceleration Roxy used on her experiments, the creature, “Meenah” as it named itself, became more and more intelligent. Proud of her creation, it learned quickly and easily, passing all other experiments within weeks. Roxy would often have it help her during lab work, simply listing things off for her, or passing her objects, which Meenah seemed to quite enjoy. She could be rude and crass, however, and also quite liked stabbing things, fish puns, and was a general pleasure to have around. Her sub-adult phase had been a bit stressful, especially due to her rather unexpected moulting period, and even more unexpected second moult, it seemed that the experiment was slowing down in it's growth rates, indicating it was near maturity. Now taller then Roxy, she stood at almost 6'6”, although it usually hunched over, making her seem much less imposing then usual. It had a fairly human body layout, although it's features were much less human. Amphibious, fins and gills made their homes on several places over her body, with much webbing between her limbs. Rays also adorned her in several different places, similar to that of a lionfish. She tended to walk up on her toes, which were long and webbed, much like her fingers. Her face was more or less human, with large eyes, a highly flexible jaw and several tendrils emanating from her face, as well as the large fins which made up her ears. She had lost most of the crustacean features during her first moult, and looked like something suitable for living in the deep sea, particularly when certain tendrils would produce bioluminesce in the dark. Despite her obvious incapability of being marketed as a pet, Roxy was extremely proud of her, like a proud parent to a child.

It was just past Meenah's first birthday when she noticed a change in her personality. The rather cheery, helpful experiment had suddenly become sullen and quiet. At first Roxy worried she had offended her, but soon realized it was more serious then just a few mistaken words. It was when the other experiments started going missing that she became concerned. Their cages would be found empty, with no trace. The security cameras had been taken offline when she started working on Meenah, for her own safety, but she felt that this was a mistake. Unwilling to admit to her investors about Meenah, she quickly sent them the specimens she had left, as well as the blueprints for what she had created, wanting them out of her lab until she figured out what was going on. Initially she thought it was someone had broken in, scaring her poor Meenah and stealing some of her creations. Trying to talk to her about it had proved futile, with the girl seeming more excited about how it was just going to be the two of them from now on. It was concerning how excited Meenah had become over the other experiments being sent away, although not as concerning as the predatory glances she catch her giving her every so often. Roxy was becoming nervous, what with the experiments disappearing, Meenah's attitude and her newfound fondness of standing so closely to her creator that she could feel her cool breath down her neck, she really wasn't sure what to expect from her creation anymore. Suddenly most of her behaviour had become much less innocuous, the brief touches, hugs and lightly planted kisses no longer seemed indicative of a mother-daughter relationship. She was beginning to have to tell the girl no more often, and she often would react violently, then usually storming off to her room where she would remain for hours. Although Roxy had never actually been inside Meenah's room before, she was becoming more and more concerned, eventually deciding that she would get a better grasp of the situation if she went in.

It was just past 2 in the morning when Roxy found the opportunity to enter her room. Meenah apparently had a night terror and demanded she slept with Roxy. Unable to deter her, she allowed the girl to sleep with her, attempting to ignore how closely she curled into her back. After she was confidant that Meenah was soundly asleep, she carefully got out of bed, rolling up a quilt and carefully placing it where she had been in hopes it would placate Meenah and keep her asleep. Leaving her room, she quietly travelled down the hall, reaching Meenah's room. She had never been inside before, and wasn't sure what to expect, however, what greeted her was entirely impossible to prepare for. 

It was the smell that hit her first. Before turning on the light, all she could smell was decaying meat. She assumed it was merely old food until she illuminated the room. Stifling a scream, she looked around the room, horrified of what she saw. Murals of blood splattered the walls, most of the blood dried and peeling, but leaving the brown stains upon the white walls. The blood was concerning enough, immediately noticing a pile of fur and bones in the corner of the room, realizing where her songbird experiments had gone, but it was what was depicted in these murals which was even more disturbing. It was Roxy herself crudely depicted in the blood. Various images of her, ranging from portraits to images border-lining on pornographic, Roxy was horrified. Clippings also adorned her walls, random photos of Roxy, her articles from scholarly journals, unpublished research, notes and letters she had written, and even missing clothing. Shuddering, Roxy never heard the door creak open behind her.

“Hello Mummy.” the cool voice said calmly, wrapping her arms around Roxy's waist. Planting a kiss on her neck, she whispered in her ear “I was hoping you wouldn't find this until I was done, I haven't quite finished capturin your hair on this one.” she said, motioning to a painting of Roxy undoubtedly sleeping. Suddenly realizing what was going on, Roxy struggled, trying to get out of her creation's grasp, ignoring how intently she was focused on necking her creator. 

“Meenah!” she exclaimed, turning around in her rather tight grasp. Pushing herself as far away from the creature as she could, she looked up at her, into her hungry tyrian eyes. Her razor sharp teeth glinted as she frowned. “Meenah, this isn't right, what you're doing is...It's just wrong.” she said, still pushing hard against her chest. Closing her eyes, she dropped her hands, freeing Roxy from her grasp. Stumbling backwards, she effectively pushed herself onto the ground due to the force she had been exerting on her experiment. Nervously grinning, she went to open her mouth, when Meenah suddenly sprang down at her.

“This isn't right?” she questioned, motioning to her creator. “Out of everyfin goin on here, you think this isn't right? Oh you stupid woman, you'd best be realizin that me wantin to get a little cozy with you isn't the least right thing here.” she said, grinning. Trailing her hand along Roxy's chest and down her stomach she added “Although that's not to say that isn't a concern of yours.” Snapping her teeth a few inches above her face, Roxy slammed her fist into the side of her face, knocking out a few teeth and giving her time to gain ground on the monster. She ran out of the room, and down the hall. She cursed silently as the front entrance's light glared red, indicating someone had set the place on lockdown. That fish knew what she was doing, she cursed, running to her own room. Locking the door behind her, she readied herself for it's return.

Feeling like prey, she heard a familiar voice coming from down the hall. She shuddered, realizing it was the tune that she used to sing to her back when she was still in her larval form. Three knocks came from the door, as Roxy readied herself. She knew the door wouldn't hold up against her, but perhaps it would slow her down. Silently, she waited, when a bang echoed through the room, the door falling down with the creature standing in the doorway. Brandishing a screwdriver, she frowned slightly.

“Did you actually think I'd be stupid enough to try to break through the door? I'm not some uncivilized brute.” she laughed. Roxy lunged at her, tearing out a handful of fin, as she hissed, grabbing her missing ear. Blood oozed from the wound as Roxy readied herself to go after her sensitive gills, and planning not to miss this time.

“No, I suppose I didn't want my 'daughter' to do something as foolish as that.” she said, darting towards her once again. It was too late when she realized the creature was feigning pain, as it grabbed her, restraining her arms and pining her to the wall. Cackling again, she leaned in, licking the side of Roxy's face as she shuddered. “You're a monster.” she spat, struggling hard against her grip to no avail. 

“Well, I suppose I was a little meaner then the others.” was the last thing Roxy heard before the screwdriver was plunged through her chest. Blood oozed from the wound, as she felt the tool being worked around within her chest cavity, her hands still tearing into anything they could grab. Meenah's disgusting predatory smile burned into her retinas, as the world faded to black.


End file.
